String and Life Blog-A-Venture

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Carol James describes herself as born and raised in the United States – descended from a long line of spinners, weaver and knitters. Carol’s maternal family were Austria immigrants and she have always felt a strong connection to these bygone fiber arts.

Carol met her future husband – a Qubcois who introduced her to fingerweaving in 1982. Together they wove their very first sash which her husband would wear on their wedding day. Though the technique came easily – it did not occur to Carol she would one day write a book about fingerweaving.

When Carol moved to St. Boniface in 1990 she was surprised to discover that fingerwoven sashes – known as the ceinture flche – figured prominently in the local French-Canadian heritage. Once again drawn to this fascinating art form Carol the need to weave sashes for her sons to wear during the Festival du Voyageur. Soon Carol was invited into the Winnipeg historic re-enactment community and found her niche as the sash weaver. An opportunity to refine her weaving technique and the chance to teach this art to others.

By 2006 Carol finally gave in to her students pressure to put everything that she had learned together and publish a book. Fingerweaving Untangled was published in March 2008 and has since sold over 3000 copies across North America.

Sprang is another ancient cloth making technique Carol taught herself over the years. Military re-enactors are especially keen on this technique because officers have been wearing sprang sashes since the 1700s. After a year of tireless weaving and research, Sprang Unsprung was complete and ready for sale in August of 2011.